AMA with Ammar Ahmed Khan, Product Lead of Cloudways Site Manager

Hey r/CloudwaysbyDO,

We're hosting an AMA with Ammar Ahmed Khan, Product Lead for Cloudways Site Manager, on May 25th at 9AM ET.

WordPress 7.0 is a significant release, and if you're managing sites for clients, you already know what this means: compatibility checks, plugin updates, staging tests, and making sure nothing breaks before anything touches production.

Ammar leads the product team behind Site Manager, which is built for exactly this kind of workflow: bulk updates, staging environments, backups, and keeping tabs on multiple client sites from one place. He's the right person to talk to about how agencies are actually using it and where it's headed.

Drop your questions below. Ammar will be here live on May 25 at 9AM ET to answer them.

Some things you can ask him about:

• How Site Manager handles bulk plugin/theme updates across client sites
• Staging and testing workflows before pushing updates to production
• Backup strategies when you're rolling out a major WP update
• Upcoming features on the Site Manager roadmap
• How to safely test 7.0 on staging before touching client sites
• Whether the PHP version requirements change with 7.0 and what that means for hosting
• Best practices for rolling back if something goes wrong post-update

No question is too basic or too technical; ask what's actually on your mind.

Drop all your questions below. Ammar will answer them all!

With WordPress 7.0 officially dropping today (following a much delay from April), we want to make sure you are fully prepared for the update. A major core release is always an exciting time for new features, but it also means an increased risk of breaking changes for your production sites.

This guide is to break down what is coming, the risks to watch out for, and how you can safely manage the transition, especially if you are an agency managing many client sites.

What is actually in WordPress 7.0?

This is a headline version, meaning there are significant changes under the hood. Here is what to expect:

• New UI and editor upgrades: Expect fresh admin screens with new typography and smoother transitions. The block editor is getting massive upgrades, including pattern editing, hiding blocks based on device (mobile vs. desktop), and a much-needed revisions panel for templates, template parts, and patterns.
• New tools for devs: Core is introducing a brand new u /wordpress/grid package for standardizing grid-based interfaces, and there is early experimental work shaping up for a native Content Types system.
• PHP 7.4 minimum requirement: WP 7.0 officially drops support for older PHP versions. Your server must be running at least PHP 7.4, or things will break.
• RTC is delayed: Note that the highly anticipated Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) feature was pulled from the 7.0 release due to performance bugs and server load concerns, so you won't see it in this update.

What are the update risks?

WordPress is the floor, but your plugins are the house. When a major version drops, Core is heavily tested, but your specific combination of plugins and themes is not.

• Plugin lag: After a major release, plugin updates often trail by days or weeks while authors scramble to test combinations. Updating Core while relying on a plugin that says "Tested up to 6.9" is a massive risk.
• Silent breakages: The most common casualties of a major update are settings pages turning into whitescreens, checkouts completing without tagging your CRM, or scheduled emails breaking.
• Complex sites: If you run WooCommerce, LearnDash, or membership sites, the risks are heavily multiplied.

Best practices: Backups & Testing

To protect your business and your clients:

1. Use a staging environment: Never update a live site making money without testing first.
2. Take hard backups: Before you touch staging, and especially before you push to production, take a full file and database backup that you know how to roll back.
3. Test the paths that make money: You don't need to click every button. Test what pays the bills: run a test purchase, verify a CRM tag was applied, and test a password reset.

The solution: Streamline the 7.0 transition with Cloudways Site Manager

For Cloudways users here, we know that for developers and agencies managing 20-25+ sites, manually cloning to staging, testing, and updating every single client site for WP 7.0 is a massive operational task.

Important note: The moment WordPress 7.0 is launched, the very next WordPress app you launch on Cloudways will automatically have 7.0 installed.

To help you manage existing sites without breaking them, we highly recommend utilizing the Cloudways Site Manager. It takes the best parts of our SafeUpdates feature and scales it for multi-site workflows.

Here is how Site Manager protects you during the 7.0 transition:

• Safe operations (automated staging & testing): Instead of manually creating a staging site, Safe Operations will automatically spin up a staging environment, apply the WordPress 7.0 and plugin updates, and run Visual Regression Testing on up to 5 user-defined pages. If the tests pass, it deploys to production. If they fail, your live site remains untouched.
• Centralized bulk updates: View all of your applications from a single dashboard. You can filter your sites and apply bulk updates based on risk profiles (e.g., using "Quick Updates" for simple brochure sites, and full "Safe Operations" for your complex WooCommerce clients).
• Automatic cache purging: Once the update is successful, Site Manager automatically purges Breeze, Redis/Memcached, and Cloudflare caches so you don't have post-update inconsistencies.

WP 7.0 is a big leap forward, but with proper backups, staging, and tools like Site Manager, you can upgrade with total confidence.

Have you tested your plugins against the WP 7.0 Release Candidates yet? Drop your questions or let us know how your tests are going in the comments below! 👇

We recently identified that migration pain is a massive barrier for agencies. Beyond the cost, what else keeps you on a host you aren't happy with? Is it DNS anxiety? Client hand-holding? Fear of email disruption?

Let’s talk about the friction points we haven't solved yet. We are noting it down . ✍️

Hey everyone! One of our users was recently approached by a scammer impersonating one of our team members. So this is a small note advising you all to beware of scamming and phishing attempts from people impersonating Cloudways team members.

We want to remind you that Cloudways never asks for sensitive data via unverified channels. Please bear it in mind and stay safe. Thanks!

Hey devs!

With the final release of WordPress 7.0 dropping on May 20, 2026, and Release Candidate 3 (RC3) officially out, it's crunch time for testing our plugins and themes. There are some massive changes to the roadmap, plus a lot of new tools to play with.

Here is the developer-specific breakdown of what's happening under the hood:

The Big News: Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) is OUT for 7.0

• Despite previous hype, RTC will not ship in 7.0.
• Core pulled the feature due to a combination of bugs found during fuzz testing, memory efficiency issues, server load, and race conditions.
• It remains a priority for the future, but it has been completely removed from this release cycle.

New Packages & Architectural Experiments

• New u / wordpress/grid package: Gutenberg now includes a brand new package that provides a standardized set of tools for building complex, grid-based UIs in your plugins.
• Content types system: Early experimental work is finally taking shape on native content type management—a feature that has been requested since custom post types were introduced back in WP 3.0.
• Guidelines CPT: If you build editorial workflows, the experimental custom post type has been renamed simply to "guidelines" and is now type-aware. Its REST API has also been split into a dedicated /content-guidelines route.

Crucial API Updates & Backend Fixes

• REST API additions: The Templates and Template Parts REST API endpoints finally include a date field, making it much easier to sort and filter by creation or modification dates.
• Widget data layer: A new widget-types data layer has been added to the Widgets module to bring programmatic widget management in line with other Gutenberg data patterns.
• Capability gating for CSS: If you manage contributor roles, take note: users without the edit_css capability will no longer have their per-block custom CSS inadvertently preserved on save.
• HEIC upload extensions: Client-side HEIC-to-JPEG conversions will now correctly append the .jpg extension (instead of .heic). Update your code if you inspect file extensions on media uploads!
• I18N Polyfill: A new polyfill ensures that script module translations will load correctly on sites running WordPress versions older than 7.0.

Theme Developer Highlights

• Expanded revisions: The revisions panel has been extended to support templates, template parts, and patterns, making complex site structure management much safer.
• Block polish:
  • The Tabs block was heavily refactored, removing sequential numbering from new tab labels and renaming elements to follow the WCAG Tabs pattern for better semantic clarity.
  • The Accordion block finally has dimension controls.
  • Switching an Image block to wide or full alignment will now successfully preserve its aspect ratio and scale instead of dropping your settings.

What are your thoughts on RTC getting bumped? Are you going to test out the new u /wordpress/grid package? Let's discuss!

On May 8, 2026, Matt Mullenweg decided that real-time collaboration (RTC) will not ship with WordPress 7.0. The call came down to confidence; specifically, the team isn't satisfied that the current implementation is solid enough for Core, pointing to issues around system complexity, race conditions, server performance, memory usage, and persistent bugs surfaced through fuzz testing.

It's a tough call given how much effort must have gone into the feature, but it's an effort to prioritize a stable, reliable 7.0 for end users.

The team said RTC isn't being abandoned. Once the 7.0 release work settles, the team plans to share a roadmap for broader testing and continued development toward a future release.

We've previously talked about the WP 7.0 release on this sub and there's not been a lot of excitement around real-time collaboration in 7.0. What do you all think? Is this a smart decision or were you really hoping for RTC to be launched soon?

Hey devs,

With the WordPress 7.0 release (May 20, 2026) inching closer, I want to cut through the general UI updates and share a developer-specific breakdown of the API changes, new tools, and deprecations you need to prep for.

Here is what's actually changing in 7.0:

1. PHP Minimum Version Bump

WordPress 7.0 drops support for PHP 7.2 and 7.3. The new absolute minimum is PHP 7.4, with PHP 8.2+ recommended. If you maintain plugins or manage older client environments, get those updated now.

2. Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) Architecture & Blockers

RTC is the flagship feature, but it has some massive implications for how we build plugins:

• The architecture: It uses Yjs as the underlying CRDT engine with HTTP polling. Core actually delayed the 7.0 release to overhaul the database architecture—moving sync data away from post_meta (which was killing persistent post query caches) into a dedicated database table.
• The meta box warning: If you are still relying on add_meta_box(), beware: classic meta boxes will disable collaboration mode for that post. You'll need to migrate to register_post_meta() and PluginSidebar components to ensure compatibility with RTC.
• Custom transports: If you want to use WebSockets instead of HTTP polling, you can customize the transport using the new sync.providers filter.

3. Native AI Integrations (WP AI Client & Connectors API)

Core is shipping a standardized PHP library (WP AI Client) to interface with AI services like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Instead of writing direct API calls to specific LLMs in your plugins, you can use this abstraction layer, allowing users to swap providers without you rewriting your code. Alongside this, the new Connectors API handles credentials storage and provider selection at the platform level.

4. Interactivity API Deprecations & Block Scaffolding

• Deprecation alert: If you use the Interactivity API, state.navigation is now deprecated. You need to migrate to the new watch() function and server-side state.url population.
• Faster scaffolding: u/wordpress/create-block has a new interactive variant that generates client-side navigation out of the box (handling pagination, search parameters, etc.).
• Pattern overrides: Synced pattern overrides have been extended to support custom blocks, allowing per-instance content edits on blocks you've built.

5. Block Visibility Metadata Structure Change

Core is introducing viewport-based block visibility (show/hide on mobile, tablet, desktop) using CSS. Important: The blockVisibility metadata key is changing from a boolean to an object. If your custom code parses this metadata server-side, you need to update it to handle the object structure.

6. Long-Awaited theme.json Upgrades

Theme developers finally get pseudo-element support for buttons (:hover, :focus, :focus-visible, :active) directly in theme.json. No more injecting custom CSS just to handle interactive states! You can also now style the active/current menu item for Navigation Links directly via theme.json.

7. Build Tooling Upgrade (esbuild)

If you use u[/]wordpress[/]scripts for your build pipeline, take note: u[/]wordpress[/]build has been introduced which replaces the Webpack/Babel pipeline with a significantly faster esbuild-based engine. It also auto-generates PHP registration files directly from your package.json.

8. WordPress Playground MCP Server

For the AI tooling nerds: Playground now has an official MCP server package (@wp-playground/mcp). You can wire Claude Code or Gemini CLI directly to a local Playground instance via WebSockets to execute PHP, manage files, read/write to the database, and navigate pages entirely through conversation.

Which API changes are you most excited (or concerned) about? Has anyone started migrating their meta boxes to React sidebars yet?

We often see agencies force clients into expensive Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 plans when all they need is a professional email address that works. The Cloudways Rackspace Email add-on is the middle ground, as many of you may know of may be already using. For $1/month, your clients get:

• 25GB Mailboxes for plenty of space for years of business communication.
• strict privacy which means no email scanning for ad targeting, your client's data remains private.
• a 1-click installation from the Cloudways dashboard.

We even provide premade templates in our DNS add-on to configure the MX records instantly. If your clients have trouble with Outlook or mobile sync, our team (and Rackspace's) is available 24/7/365 to help.

While this add-on is a professional solution that respects your client's budget while giving you one less thing to manage, some people may still choose to work with G-suite. Are you one of them? Are you using the Rackspace add-on and if yes, would you recommend it? Share your honest opinions below.

We’re offering free migrations for everything from WordPress to Magento and Laravel until June 31. In your experience, which PHP application is the most difficult to migrate without breaking something?

This is a detailed (and super long) post about how you can use the Cloudways MCP Server to manage your servers using AI assistants.

Cloudways MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server is a feature that allows AI assistants to interact directly with your Cloudways platform using simple, natural language.

Instead of manually navigating the platform, you can ask an AI tool to perform actions for you. The MCP server connects your AI assistant with Cloudways and converts your requests into actual operations on your servers and applications.

It works by providing structured tools that MCP-compatible clients such as Claude, Cursor, Visual Studio Code Copilot, ChatGPT, and others can use to perform tasks automatically.

How Cloudways MCP Works

Cloudways MCP works with any tool that supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which is an open standard designed to connect AI systems with external platforms.

Below is a simple step-by-step overview of how it works:

1. Connect your MCP-compatible client to the Cloudways MCP server by following the setup instructions.
2. Enter your request in the client interface (for example: “List all my servers”).
3. The client sends your request to the Cloudways MCP server.
4. The MCP server identifies the required action, verifies your account using your credentials, and performs the task.
5. The results are returned to your client in a clear and structured format.

This process allows you to manage your Cloudways platform without switching between different tools or dashboards.

Recommended LLM for Cloudways MCP

Cloudways MCP is designed to work with any Large Language Model (LLM). This means you can use it with different AI models depending on your preference.

However, the quality and accuracy of responses may vary based on the model you choose. For better results, we recommend using the following models:

• Claude Opus 4
• Claude Sonnet 4
• GPT-5
• ChatGPT o3
• Gemini 2.5 Pro
• Claude Sonnet 3.5
• GPT-4.1
• GPT o4-mini
• GPT-4o
• Gemini 2.5 Flash

Why Should You Use Cloudways MCP?

The main benefit of Cloudways MCP is that it removes the need to switch between multiple tools or dashboards.

Cloudways MCP acts as a bridge between your AI assistant and the Cloudways platform. This allows you to stay in your preferred environment while the AI handles infrastructure-related tasks.

With MCP, Cloudways provides a set of tools through a standard interface. Your AI client uses these tools to perform actions such as managing servers, handling applications, or retrieving information.

As a result, you can:

• Manage your infrastructure using simple, conversational commands
• Perform tasks faster without manual navigation
• Get clear and structured responses from your AI tool

All operations are executed using Cloudways-native capabilities, ensuring accuracy and reliability.

For security, authentication is handled using your email and API key. These credentials are securely transmitted as encrypted data over HTTPS, ensuring safe communication between your client and the Cloudways platform.

What You Can Do With Cloudways MCP?

Cloudways MCP provides a set of tools that are directly connected to actions available on the Cloudways platform.

Each tool performs a specific task behind the scenes using Cloudways APIs. Instead of manually making API calls or navigating the platform, you can simply describe what you want to do in plain language, and the MCP client will handle the rest.

For example, when you request an action, the MCP client automatically selects the correct tool, performs the operation, and returns the result in a structured format.

Server Management

Cloudways MCP allows you to manage your servers easily through AI-assisted commands.

With server management tools, you can:

• Create and set up new servers
• Start, stop, or restart servers
• Scale server resources as needed
• Manage backups and restore points
• Track the status of ongoing operations (such as server creation or scaling)

These tools help you handle all key server-related tasks without needing to manually interact with the Cloudways platform interface.

Tool	Description
server_list	List all servers with their status, cloud provider, region, IP, and app count.
server_get	Get detailed info about a specific server including all hosted apps and configuration.
server_create	Create a new server on DigitalOcean, AWS, GCE, Vultr, or Linode with an initial application.
server_start	Start a stopped server.
server_stop	Stop a running server.
server_restart	Restart a server to apply configuration changes.
server_delete	Permanently delete a server and all its data.
server_backup	Create a full backup of a server.
server_scale	Upgrade or downgrade server size (CPU/RAM).
server_update_label	Rename a server.
operation_status	Check the status of an async operation.

Application Management

Tools for managing applications hosted on Cloudways servers, including creation, cloning, deletion, backups, and security insights.

Tool	Description
app_list	List all applications on a specific server.
app_get	Get detailed information about a specific application.
app_create	Create a new application (WordPress, Laravel, Magento, etc.).
app_delete	Permanently delete an application and its data.
app_clone	Clone an application on the same server.
app_clone_to_server	Clone an application to a different server.
app_backup	Create a backup of an application.
app_credentials	Get SSH/SFTP credentials for an application.
app_purge_cache	Clear all cache layers for an application.
app_update_label	Rename an application.
app_vulnerabilities_list	List WordPress vulnerabilities with severity scores.
app_vulnerabilities_refresh	Trigger a new vulnerability scan.

Service Management

Tools for managing infrastructure-level services such as web servers, databases, and caching layers. These operations directly impact application availability and performance.

Tool	Description
service_status	Check the status of all services on a server.
service_restart	Restart a specific service (nginx, mysql, php-fpm, etc.).
service_start	Start a stopped service.
service_stop	Stop a running service.
varnish_manage	Enable, disable, or purge Varnish cache at server level.
varnish_app_manage	Enable or disable Varnish cache per application.

Add-on Management

Tools for managing Cloudways add-ons at both account and server levels, including activation, deactivation, and configuration of services like SMTP and DNS.

Tool	Description
addon_list	List all available add-ons with status and pricing.
addon_activate	Activate an add-on on your account.
addon_deactivate	Deactivate an add-on from your account.
addon_activate_on_server	Enable an add-on on a specific server.
addon_deactivate_on_server	Remove an add-on from a server.

Cloudflare CDN

Tools for integrating and managing Cloudflare CDN at the application level, including domain onboarding and verification workflows.

Tool	Description
cloudflare_add_domain	Add a domain to Cloudflare CDN for an application.
cloudflare_get_details	View CDN status, configuration, and usage.
cloudflare_get_txt_records	Retrieve DNS TXT records for domain verification.

DNS Made Easy

Tools for managing DNS zones and records through the DNS Made Easy add-on, including domain lifecycle operations and traffic usage insights.

Tool	Description
dns_made_easy_list_domains	List all managed domains.
dns_made_easy_add_domains	Add domains for DNS management.
dns_made_easy_delete_domains	Delete domains from DNS Made Easy.
dns_made_easy_get_domain_status	Check domain status.
dns_made_easy_list_records	List DNS records for a domain.
dns_made_easy_add_records	Add DNS records.
dns_made_easy_delete_records	Delete DNS records.
dns_made_easy_update_record	Update DNS records.
dns_made_easy_get_domain_usage	View DNS usage statistics.

Server Settings

Tools for viewing and modifying server-level configuration, including PHP settings, MySQL parameters, and automated maintenance operations like disk cleanup.

Tool	Description
server_settings_get	View server and PHP configuration.
server_settings_update	Update PHP and MySQL settings.
server_disk_cleanup_settings_get	View disk cleanup settings.
server_disk_cleanup_settings_update	Configure automated cleanup.
server_disk_cleanup_execute	Execute disk cleanup manually.

Monitoring & Analytics

Tools for retrieving infrastructure metrics, application performance data, and traffic analytics. These support debugging, optimization, and capacity planning workflows.

Tool	Description
monitoring_server_summary	View server bandwidth and disk usage.
monitoring_server_usage	Refresh server usage statistics.
monitoring_server_graph	Retrieve monitoring graphs (CPU, memory, etc.).
monitoring_app_summary	View application-level usage metrics.
analytics_app_traffic	Analyze traffic patterns and sources.
analytics_app_traffic_details	Get detailed traffic data for custom ranges.
analytics_app_php	Analyze PHP performance and slow pages.
analytics_app_mysql	Analyze MySQL queries and performance.
analytics_app_cron	View cron job execution analytics.

Copilot Insights

Tools that provide AI-driven insights and alerts about infrastructure health, risks, and optimization opportunities based on Cloudways Copilot analysis.

Tool	Description
copilot_insights_list	Retrieve insights, alerts, and recommendations for your infrastructure.

How to Connect to Cloudways MCP?

Important Prerequisites:

To use Cloudways MCP, you must have a valid Cloudways account with access to the infrastructure resources you intend to use or manage.

You will also need a compatible MCP client.

You will need the following to use the Cloudways MCP server:

• Registered Email Address
• Cloudways API Key
• Node . js (v24.14.1 or higher) installed on your machine.

Required Headers

Every request to the Cloudways MCP server must include the following headers:

Header	Description	Example
X-CW-Email	Your Cloudways account email	user @ example.com
X-CW-Api-Key	Your Cloudways API key	abc123def456...
X-Mcp-Host	The MCP host you are connecting from	cursor, windsurf, claude-desktop, claude-code, vs-code, gemini-cli, codex, codex-cli

Step #1: Generate Cloudways API Credentials

1. Log in to platform [dot] cloudways [dot] com
2. Open the API section from the top navigation
3. Click Generate API Key (or copy an existing key)
4. Copy:
   • Your account email
   • Your API key

These will be used in your MCP client configuration.

Step #2: Configure Your MCP Client

Below are client-specific configuration examples. Each client must define:

• MCP server endpoint
• Authentication headers

1. Cursor

One-click install:

Click the button below to open Cursor with the Cloudways MCP server pre-configured. You will only need to fill in your Cloudways email and API key in the form that appears, then click Install.

Manual setup:

Config file: ~/.cursor/mcp.json

1. Open Cursor.
2. Go to Settings → Tools & MCP → New MCP Server.
3. This opens ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Add the following configuration:

{

"mcpServers": {

"cloudways": {

"url": "https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/",

"headers": {

"X-CW-Email": "<your-cloudways-email>",

"X-CW-Api-Key": "<your-cloudways-api-key>",

"X-Mcp-Host": "cursor"

}

}

}

}

4. Save the file.

5. Go back to Settings → Tools & MCP and verify that the Cloudways server shows a green dot.

Tip: If you see a red dot, restart Cursor and ensure the JSON syntax is valid.

Alternative configuration (stdio via mcp-remote):

If the native HTTP configuration above does not work for you (e.g., connection issues or proxy restrictions), you can use the mcp-remote bridge instead. This requires Node.js (v24+) to be installed on your machine.

Replace the cloudways entry in ~/.cursor/mcp.json with:

{

"mcpServers": {

"cloudways": {

"command": "npx",

"args": [

"--yes", "mcp-remote@latest",

"https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/",

"--header", "X-CW-Email: <your-cloudways-email>",

"--header", "X-CW-Api-Key: <your-cloudways-api-key>",

"--header", "X-Mcp-Host: cursor"

]

}

}

}

Save the file and restart Cursor. The server should show a green dot in Settings → Tools & MCP.

2. Windsurf

Config file: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

1. Open Windsurf.
2. Click the MCPs icon in the top-right menu of the Cascade panel, or go to Windsurf Settings → Cascade → MCP Servers.
3. Click "Add custom server" to open mcp_config.json, or edit it directly at the path above.
4. Add the following configuration:

{

"mcpServers": {

"cloudways": {

"serverUrl": "https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/",

"headers": {

"X-CW-Email": "<your-cloudways-email>",

"X-CW-Api-Key": "<your-cloudways-api-key>",

"X-Mcp-Host": "windsurf"

}

}

}

}

5. Save the file. Windsurf will detect the change automatically.

Tip:

Windsurf supports environment variable interpolation. You can use ${env:CW_EMAIL} and ${env:CW_API_KEY} in place of hardcoded values if you prefer to keep credentials in your shell environment.

3. Claude Desktop

Config file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Claude Desktop does not natively support remote HTTP MCP servers in its JSON configuration. You need mcp-remote, a Node.js bridge that handles the connection.

This requires Node.js (v24+) to be installed on your machine.

1. Open the claude_desktop_config.json file at the path above.
2. Add the following configuration:

{

"mcpServers": {

"cloudways": {

"command": "npx",

"args": [

"mcp-remote",

"https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/",

"--header", "X-CW-Email:<your-cloudways-email>",

"--header", "X-CW-Api-Key:<your-cloudways-api-key>",

"--header", "X-Mcp-Host:claude-desktop"

]

}

}

}

3. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop.

Verifying the connection

1. In Claude Desktop, go to Profile → Settings → Developer.
2. Under Local MCP Servers, you should see the cloudways server with a Running status.
3. If the server is not running, click View logs next to it to see detailed error logs and diagnose the issue.
4. Also double-check that your claude_desktop_config.json contains valid JSON (a missing comma or bracket will prevent the server from starting).

Important: Do not add spaces around the colon (:) in header values passed via --header arguments. For example, use X-CW-Email:user@example.com, not X-CW-Email: user@example.com.

4. Claude Code

Claude Code supports remote HTTP MCP servers natively via the CLI.

Run the following command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http \

--header "X-CW-Email: <your-cloudways-email>" \

--header "X-CW-Api-Key: <your-cloudways-api-key>" \

--header "X-Mcp-Host: claude-code" \

-s user \

cloudways https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/

The -s user flag stores the configuration at the user level so it persists across all your projects.

To verify it was added:

claude mcp list

To remove it later:

claude mcp remove cloudways

5. VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Config file: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json (Windows)

Step-by-step setup

1. Open VS Code.
2. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Shift+P on macOS) and type MCP: Add Server.
3. Select HTTP (HTTP or Server-Sent Events) from the list.
4. When prompted for the server URL, enter:

https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/

5. When prompted for a Server ID, enter: cloudways

6. VS Code will open the mcp.json file and may show a "Dynamic Client Registration not supported" dialog. Click Cancel, and if a second prompt appears asking for client registration details, press Esc to dismiss it.

7. Replace the entire contents of mcp.json with the following:

{

"servers": {

"cloudways": {

"type": "http",

"url": "https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/",

"headers": {

"X-CW-Email": "<your-cloudways-email>",

"X-CW-Api-Key": "<your-cloudways-api-key>",

"X-Mcp-Host": "vs-code"

}

}

},

"inputs": []

}

8. Save the file.

9. Click the Restart button that appears above the "cloudways" server entry in the editor to start the server.

Verifying the connection

1. Open the right sidebar (Opt+Cmd+B on macOS, Ctrl+Alt+B on Windows/Linux) or click the Copilot Chat icon.
2. Click the Settings (gear) icon at the top-right corner of the sidebar.
3. Go to the MCP Servers section and confirm that the Cloudways server shows a Running status with a green indicator.

Tip:

If the server does not show as running, click on the cloudways entry in the MCP Servers list, then Disable and Enable it again. If it still does not start, verify the JSON syntax and ensure your credentials are correct.

Note:

The VS Code MCP configuration uses "servers" (not "mcpServers") and requires a "type": "http" field. This is different from other MCP hosts.

6. Gemini CLI

Config file: ~/.gemini/settings.json

1. Open or create the ~/.gemini/settings.json file.
2. Add the following configuration inside the file:

{

"mcpServers": {

"cloudways": {

"httpUrl": "https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/",

"headers": {

"X-CW-Email": "<your-cloudways-email>",

"X-CW-Api-Key": "<your-cloudways-api-key>",

"X-Mcp-Host": "gemini-cli"

}

}

}

}

3. Save the file.

4. Run Gemini in your terminal. The Cloudways tools will be discovered automatically.

Note:

Gemini CLI uses "httpUrl" (not "url" or "serverUrl") for Streamable HTTP servers. Using "url" will attempt an SSE connection instead.

7. Codex

Codex (the IDE extension) shares its configuration with Codex CLI via config.toml.

Config file: ~/.codex/config.toml

1. Open or create the ~/.codex/config.toml file.
2. Add the following configuration:

[mcp_servers.cloudways]

url = "https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/"

[mcp_servers.cloudways.http_headers]

X-CW-Email = "<your-cloudways-email>"

X-CW-Api-Key = "<your-cloudways-api-key>"

X-Mcp-Host = "codex"

3. Save the file. The Cloudways MCP server will be available in both the Codex IDE extension and the CLI.

8. Codex CLI

Codex CLI shares the same config.toml as the Codex IDE extension. You can configure it either by editing the file directly (see Codex above) or via the CLI:

codex mcp add cloudways --url https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/

After adding the server, open ~/.codex/config.toml and add the custom headers under the [mcp_servers.cloudways] section:

[mcp_servers.cloudways]

url = "https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/"

[mcp_servers.cloudways.http_headers]

X-CW-Email = "<your-cloudways-email>"

X-CW-Api-Key = "<your-cloudways-api-key>"

X-Mcp-Host = "codex-cli"

To verify:

codex mcp list

To remove:

codex mcp remove cloudways

9. Other JSON-configured clients

Any client that supports the MCP JSON config format can connect using the same JSON snippet from the Cursor section above.

Step #3: Verify the Connection

Once configured:

1. Open your MCP-enabled client
2. Run a simple prompt: Show me all my servers
3. Expected behavior:

If the connection is working, you will see a list of your Cloudways servers with their status, cloud provider, region, and IP addresses.

Configuration Reference

A quick reference of the configuration format for each MCP host:

MCP Host	Config File	Server URL Key	Headers Key	Transport
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json	url	headers	Auto-detected
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json	serverUrl	headers	Auto-detected
Claude Desktop	claude_desktop_config.json	via mcp-remote args	via --header args	stdio bridge
Claude Code	CLI / ~/.claude.json	positional arg	--header flags	http
VS Code	.vscode/mcp.json	url	headers	http
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/settings.json	httpUrl	headers	Streamable HTTP
Codex	~/.codex/config.toml	url	http_headers	Streamable HTTP
Codex CLI	~/.codex/config.toml	url	http_headers	Streamable HTTP

Troubleshooting Guide

Here are the most common issues and how to fix them:

Issue	Resolution
Connection failed / red indicator	Verify the MCP URL is exactly https://mcp.cloudways.com/mcp/ (trailing slash included)
401 Unauthorized	Double-check that your email and API key are correct and copied from the API portal
Tools not appearing	Restart your MCP host after saving the configuration file
Timeout errors	Retry after a few moments, as transient network issues can cause timeouts
mcp-remote not found (Claude Desktop)	Ensure Node.js v18+ is installed and npx is available in your PATH
Codex initialization failure	Make sure the config.toml syntax is valid. TOML is whitespace-sensitive for inline tables

Cloudways MCP in Action

Now that you have the Cloudways MCP working with your client, you can try the following queries to see the capabilities first-hand.

Quick Lookups

What You Want to Do	Enter in the Client	What Happens Behind the Scenes
See your fleet	"Show me all my running servers"	Calls server_list and filters by active status. Returns server names, IPs, providers, and app counts.
Inspect a server	"Show details of server 12345"	Calls server_get. Returns full config, hosted apps, and current state.
Check services	"Are all services healthy on my production server?"	Calls service_status. Returns the status of NGINX, MySQL, PHP-FPM, and more.
Get credentials	"I need SSH credentials for my staging app"	Calls app_credentials. Returns host, port, username, and password.
Check operation	"Is my backup finished?"	Calls operation_status. Returns current progress of async operations.

Day-to-Day Management

What You Want to Do	Enter in the Client	What Happens Behind the Scenes
Scale up for traffic	"Scale my server to 4GB RAM"	Calls server_scale. Resizes the server (brief downtime may occur).
Clear cache	"Purge all caches for my WordPress blog"	Calls app_purge_cache. Clears application, Varnish, and object caches.
Create a staging copy	"Clone my production app to create a staging version"	Calls app_clone. Creates an exact copy on the same server.
Restart PHP	"Restart PHP-FPM on server 12345"	Calls service_restart with the php-fpm parameter.
Backup before deploy	"Back up my production app before I push changes"	Calls app_backup. Initiates a point-in-time backup.

Performance Troubleshooting

What You Want to Do	Enter in the Client	What Happens Behind the Scenes
Diagnose high CPU	"Show CPU usage for my server over the last 24 hours"	Calls monitoring_server_graph. Returns CPU utilization metrics.
Find traffic spikes	"Show top IPs hitting my store in the last hour"	Calls analytics_app_traffic. Identifies traffic patterns and sources.
Find slow pages	"Which PHP pages are slowest on my app?"	Calls analytics_app_php. Returns pages ranked by execution time.
Check slow queries	"Show slow MySQL queries for my app"	Calls analytics_app_mysql. Returns queries sorted by duration.
Security check	"Scan my WordPress site for vulnerabilities"	Calls app_vulnerabilities_refresh then app_vulnerabilities_list. Returns findings with severity scores.

Infrastructure Provisioning

What You Want to Do	Enter in the Client	What Happens Behind the Scenes
Spin up a new server	"Create a 2GB DigitalOcean server in NYC with WordPress"	Calls server_create. Provisions the server with your chosen cloud provider and pre-installs the app.
Deploy a new app	"Add a Laravel app to server 12345"	Calls app_create. Deploys and configures the application.
Move an app	"Clone my app from server A to server B"	Calls app_clone_to_server. Replicates the app to a different server.
Clean up resources	"Delete the old staging server I’m not using anymore"	Calls server_delete. Permanently removes the server and all data.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Cloudways MCP

Be Specific in Your Prompts

Provide clear and detailed instructions when making a request. The more context you include, the more accurate the response will be.

For example, instead of writing “Check my server,” you can write “Show CPU and memory usage for server 12345 over the last 7 days.”

Whenever possible, include details such as server IDs, application names, or time ranges.

Start with Read Operations

If you are new to Cloudways MCP, begin with basic read-only actions.

You can start by listing your servers, checking service status, or viewing application details.

This helps you understand how the system works before performing actions that make changes, such as scaling or deleting resources.

Use It for Incident Response

Cloudways MCP can help you quickly troubleshoot issues without navigating the platform manually.

You can use simple commands to check CPU usage, identify unusual traffic, review slow queries, and take necessary actions.

This is especially useful when you need to respond to issues quickly.

Automate Repetitive Tasks

If you regularly perform the same set of actions, you can turn them into a repeatable workflow.

For example, you can create a sequence to check backups, review disk usage, and clear cache.

Some MCP clients also allow you to save these sequences as templates for quick reuse.

Keep Your Credentials Updated

For security, regularly update your Cloudways API key, especially if it has been shared or used on multiple devices.

After updating your API key, make sure to update it in your MCP client settings as well.

Hope this helps. Drop your questions below. ⬇️

• 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load
• 47% of users expect any website to load in under 2 seconds
• 2.5 seconds – average desktop load time in 2026
• 8.6 seconds – average mobile load time in 2026 (still far too slow)
• 20% drop in conversions for every 1-second delay in mobile load time
• 16% drop in user satisfaction with just a 3-second delay
• 75%+ of a webpage’s total weight comes from images alone
• 67% of websites now achieve a good Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) score
• 40 million+ websites use a CDN to improve delivery speed
• 2.6 billion in revenue is lost each year globally due to slow-loading websites

As a matter of fact, speed in 2026 isn't just about traditional search rankings anymore. Faster sites are easier for AI crawlers (like Google AI Overviews or ChatGPT) to access. If your site is slow, it simply gets processed less often, meaning speed is now a direct visibility signal for generative AI

Has anyone noticed a tangible drop in AI search visibility for their slower client sites?

After much delay, WordPress 7.0 is finally scheduled to be released on May 20, 2026.

One of the key and most anticipated features is the real-time collaboration feature. This means changes made by your team members will synchronize in real time, meaning multiple users can edit the same page without locking each other out.

Based on recent core development logs, we know there's an urgent push right now for web hosts to test collaborative editing by May 4th. The core team is also focusing on the Presence API Feature Plugin and integrating Gutenberg 23.0.

With WordPress 7.0 being the first major release of 2026, I want to know where everyone stands on the direction the release squad is taking:

• Are we actually excited about collaborative editing and the Presence API? Do you see your clients or teams using this, or does it feel unnecessary?
• What are your thoughts on the new Gutenberg updates?
• What features do you think are actually useful, and which ones just feel like bloat?

What do you think will be the best addition in 7.0 and what seems boring/not useful? Drop your thoughts below!

Just wanted to give the community a heads-up about a severe vulnerability that is actively being exploited in cPanel and WebHost Manager (WHM).

What is the vulnerability?

The bug, officially tracked as CVE-2026-41940, allows malicious hackers to remotely bypass the login screen and gain full control over the software’s administration panel. Because cPanel and WHM have deep access to the servers they manage, this flaw could give an attacker unrestricted access to databases, emails, and important server configurations.

Who is affected?

This vulnerability impacts all supported versions of cPanel and WHM, which are used by tens of millions of website owners globally. It also affects WP Squared, a tool used for managing WordPress websites. Canada’s national cybersecurity agency has specifically warned that websites running on shared hosting servers are at high risk of being compromised.

Is it actively being exploited?

Yes, Canada’s national cybersecurity agency warns that the exploitation is highly probable. In fact, KnownHost CEO Daniel Pearson shared that his company found evidence of hackers attempting to abuse this vulnerability as far back as February 23, months before the recent widespread alerts.

What should you do?

• If you manage your own servers: The makers of cPanel are urging all customers to ensure their systems are updated and patched immediately.
• If you use a commercial web host: Many providers like HostGator, Namecheap, and KnownHost have already applied patches to their customers' systems. To prevent exploitation while applying these security fixes, Namecheap and KnownHost both temporarily blocked access to customer cPanel panels. If you are using a different commercial host, contact their support team immediately to confirm they have patched this bug.
• If you use Cloudways: As a Cloudways user, your environment is not affected by this cPanel vulnerability. Cloudways does not use cPanel. It relies on a custom-built, modern control panel and an optimized ThunderStack infrastructure, instead.

Given the ubiquity of cPanel, please double-check your systems and spread the word so others can patch their servers before they are compromised!

Has your site been affected? If yes, share your experiences below and suggest others on what steps you are taking to be better protected.

With Gemini integrated into Chrome DevTools, we can now ask "What's blocking the main thread?" and get an instant answer.

Are you all using AI to analyze performance trends, or do you still prefer the manual waterfall audit?

We keep hearing that PHP 8.5 is 3x faster than the old 5.6 days, but what's the truth? Is the jump to 8.5 worth the risk for a high-volume store for someone on an older version right now? How does it look different for low and high traffic stores?

Please share thoughts, stories and experiences below!

As we know it, the debate and struggle to choose between shared and managed hosting is perpetual. There are trade-offs with each of them. Shared hosting is cheaper, yes, but if you are looking to scale, at some point you'd move to a managed hosting platform and the choice will reflect in $$. When do you actually make the move though?

So, question for freelancers, agencies, founders: at what point do manual backups, updates, and monitoring stop scaling for you? What broke first? At what site count did you decide to finally invest in a managed platform or automation tools?

When a user visits an uncached WordPress site, the server doesn't just hand them a file. It has to compile the PHP, run numerous database queries, and stitch everything together to generate the final HTML document. Imagine someone walks up to a lake and asks for a boat. Instead of taking them to a boathouse and giving them a boat that is already built, your server runs off to chop down trees and build one from scratch.

This manual building process is incredibly resource-intensive. On an average site, this means the initial HTML request alone can take 3 to 4 seconds, and in worse cases, it can take anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. If your site takes that long just to deliver the foundation, every other optimization you do is essentially fighting a losing battle.

Page caching simply takes that fully generated HTML and stores it on the disk. The next time a visitor requests that page, the server skips the PHP compiling and database queries entirely, instantly handing them the pre-built HTML.

To put this in perspective with real data: If you take a demo site that initially took 3.5 seconds to load the HTML. After simply enabling caching, that load time can plummet to 79 milliseconds, just under a tenth of a second. This happened in one of our Cloud Bootcamp sessions about page caching. It is the absolute largest reach you can get for the minimum amount of time.

There are generally two ways to cache:

1. Server-based Caching: This is the most powerful method. Premium hosts like Cloudways natively offer this.
2. Plugin-based Caching: If your host lacks server-level cache, plugins step in. Interestingly, you can often use both together. For example, using the Breeze plugin alongside Cloudways' server-based Varnish cache gives you maximum flexibility and speed.

What does your caching stack look like? Are you relying purely on server-side caching like Varnish, or do you layer a plugin like Breeze or WP Rocket on top? Let's hear your setups below!